Electrothermal system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an electrothermal system which comprises at least one electrothermal equipment used to emit infrared radiation, a control unit used to control the operation of the electrothermal equipments. By using the control unit, some specified electrothermal equipments can be enabled to heat up some specified regions while the other electrothermal equipments will not operate. The present invention can reduce power consumption for only heating up demanded local regions and improving efficiency of electricity utilization.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electrothermal system, and moreparticularly to an electrothermal system using infrared radiation as themajor heating source, which can be used to heat up local regions asdemanded.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Heaters or air conditioners are indispensable in many middle and highlatitude countries. Even in a subtropical country like Taiwan, peoplestill need a heater or an air conditioner to warm up the temperature inthe room in the winter time, and which is very important to the childrenand seniorities who are relatively weak in health. For many families, aspace heater, such as ceramic heater or thermal-tube heater, is an idealoption for use. However, these types of heaters are placed in a fixedlocation, so that the space being heated is very limited. In many cases,people are moving in the room and, sometimes, the space of a room ispretty large, such heater is not practical as expected. Therefore, for abig space in a restaurant, hotel, office building or hospital, a largescale air conditioner system is used often to control the temperature inthe room. However, the temperature in a large scale air conditionersystem is controlled centrally, and can not be individually adjusted tomeet personal demand. It is often to see that one person feels coldwhile another feels warm when both of them are in the same area withsame space temperature, and changing the temperature will not satisfyany of them. In other case, when many people are in the same space, suchas in a department store or a big office, a centralized air conditionsystem is an ideal option, however, when only a few people in such bigspace, the system is not operating economically and wasting energy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to cure the disadvantages described above, such as using in afixed location, operating not economically and wasting energy, thepresent invention discloses an electrothermal system which comprises atleast one electrothermal equipment, which is in the shape of board andis the major source of heat, to emit infrared radiation when beingconnected electrically; a control unit used to control the operation ofeach electrothermal equipment. The present invention can be installed inbig range in an interior space, and can be integrated with interiordesign, such as installed in the ceiling or mounted directly on thewall. When in operation, the present invention is able to control eachelectrothermal equipment of the system with the control unit dependingon personal demand.

The control unit of the present invention is connected with a userinterface for a user to send instructions to the control unit foroperation such as turn on or off a specified electrothermal equipment ofthe electrothermal system, or adjusting the infrared radiation intensityof the specified energized electrothermal equipment. The user interfacecan be connected to the control unit of the present invention viaphysical circuit or wireless access.

More, the electrothermal system of the present invention furthercomprises a sensor for detecting the location of the user, receivingoperating instructions from the user or sending instructions to thecontrol unit for operating the system. The sensor can be an infraredsensor which uses an infrared transmitter for emitting infrared alloverthe room and uses an infrared receiver for receiving the infraredreflecting from the user to detect the location of the user. It isnoticed that the infrared wavelength of the infrared transmitter andreceiver is different from that of radiation emitting from theelectrothermal equipment.

Further more, the sensor can be an image sensor which uses a camera forreceiving an image to determine the location of the user and transmitssignals to the control unit for operating the system. According to theuser's gestures detected by the image sensor, the sensor can transmitsignals to the control unit for operating the electrothermal equipment,such as turning on or off a specified electrothermal equipment of thesystem, or adjusting the infrared radiation intensity of the specificenergized electrothermal equipment.

The sensor can be an audio sensor which can detect the voice or somespecific oral instructions from the user and send instructions to thecontrol unit for operating the electrothermal equipment, such as turningon or off a specified electrothermal equipment of the system, oradjusting the infrared radiation intensity of the specified energizedelectrothermal equipment in the system.

Further, the electrothermal system of the present invention alsocomprises a thermometer for detecting the temperature of the user's bodyor the environment and sends instructions to the control unit foroperating the electrothermal equipment subject to the temperature.

The electrothermal system of the present invention has many advantagesas follows.

(1) The electrothermal equipment of the electrothermal system is in theshape of board which can be installed in the ceiling or mounted directlyon the wall and occupy very limited space.

(2) The control unit of the electrothermal system is able to controleach electrothermal equipment respectively. Only those electrothermalequipments located in the regions having people or in the regionsdemanding more heat will be in operation, otherwise, the electrothermalequipment will not be in operation in order to save energy.

(3) The electrothermal equipment of the present invention can beinstalled in many regions in a room, and the sensors are used to detectthe location of the people and send instructions to the control unit foroperating the electrothermal equipment to increase the temperaturearound the regions having people. Therefore, the people in differentregions will obtain the heat according to their locations.

(4) The infrared radiation is the major heating approach of theelectrothermal system of the present invention. The electrothermalequipment has the features of high infrared emissivity and warmingrapidness. So that it is able to rapidly respond to the varioussituations of localized demand for heating.

(5) The electrothermal equipment of the present invention can be amodular design for easily mounted to the present suspended ceiling framelike T-bar ceiling lights or air conditioning ceiling vents. So thepresent invention is helpful to save the installation cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of the electrothermalsystem according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is another schematic view showing the structure of theelectrothermal system according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is another schematic view showing the structure of theelectrothermal system according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is another schematic view showing the structure of theelectrothermal system according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In order to further illustrate the purposes, technical means, andeffects of the present invention, the details are described in thefollowing preferred embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is the schematic structure of the firstembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plurality ofelectrothermal equipments 10 are installed face down in the ceiling, anda control unit 20 installed in the top side of the ceiling is connectedto the electrothermal equipments 10 by electrical wires. When heat isdemanded by the user in a room, the user can use a user interface 30 tosend operating instructions to enable the electrothermal equipment 10 ina specified location to operate, and to adjust the infrared radiationintensity of the energized electrothermal equipment depending on thetemperature demand. The location of the control unit 20 is not limitedin the top side of the ceiling; it can be mounted on the wall or anyplace in the room. The user interface 30 can be installed on the wall oron the top of desk in the office and is connected to the control unit 20with circuit. More, the user interface 30 can be a portable device, suchas a remote controller or a portable communication device, so that theuser is able to use the control unit 20 in any place. The electrothermalsystem can further comprise a thermometer 40, and the thermometer 40 canbe an infrared thermometer. The thermometer 40 is used to detect thetemperature of user's body or that of environment and send instructionsto the control unit 20 in order to control the electrothermal equipments10. With the design of the present invention, the user is able to turnon a specified electrothermal equipment to increase the spacetemperature to the specified level on the demand, not like a centralizedair condition system increasing space temperature overall, so as to saveenergy. For the users in different locations demanding different levelsof temperature, the user is able to only turn on the electrothermalequipments 10 around her/him-self and adjust the infrared radiationintensity to maintain the temperature on a certain level.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is the schematic structure of the secondembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a plurality ofelectrothermal equipments 10 are installed in the ceiling, and a controlunit 20 installed in the top side of the ceiling is connected to theelectrothermal equipments 10 by electrical wires. In FIG. 2, theelectrothermal system also comprises an infrared sensor 50 which can beinstalled in the ceiling. The infrared sensor 50 can be a reflectivetype infrared sensor, which comprises an infrared transmitter and aninfrared receiver. The infrared transmitter emits infrared to aspecified area in a room, and when an object passing the area, theinfrared receiver receives the infrared reflecting from the object andtransmits signals to the control unit to control the operation of theelectrothermal equipments 10 corresponding to the infrared sensor 50.When a user in a room changes his location, the control unit 20 can usethe signal transmitting from the infrared sensor 50 to determine theleave of the user and so as to turn off the electrothermal equipments 10around the original location of the user to save energy, and to turn onthe electrothermal equipments 10 around the new location of the user toutilize energy efficiently.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is the schematic structure of the thirdembodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment of the presentinvention is similar to the second embodiment of the present invention,while the sensor is an image sensor 51. The image sensor 51 can beinstalled in the ceiling, on the wall or any other place in a room. Theimage sensor 51 will take image and transmits the image to the controlunit 20. The control unit 20 determines the location of the user basedon the image and turn on the electrothermal equipment 10 around thelocation. Further, basing on the motion of the user's body or the user'sgestures, the control unit 20 determines the operation of theelectrothermal equipment, such as, turning on the electrothermalequipment 10 when the user sitting down and turning off theelectrothermal equipment 10 when the user standing up, or increasing theinfrared radiation intensity when the user stretching his hand(s) up orwaving his hand(s) right and left, or decreasing the infrared radiationintensity when the user stretching his hand(s) forward or waving hishand(s) up and down. Further more, the control unit 20 can identify theuser by the features of the user's face, body, motion style, and withthe pre-determined set up, to adjust the corresponding operation of theelectrothermal equipment 10, such as, when the current temperature isset up to 25° C. but the preference of the temperature of user A is 27°C., the control unit 20 will control the system to adjust thetemperature to 27° C. when the image sensor 51 detects the user is userA. With the present invention, the system adjusts the temperature notonly depending on the location of the user, but also by the motion orgestures of the user, so the user does not need to operate the systemwith the user interface. The electrothermal system of the presentinvention is also able to adjust the temperature based on the user'shabits to satisfy the user's personal demand of the temperature so as toutilize energy more efficiently and save the cost extremely.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is the schematic structure of the forthembodiment of the present invention. The forth embodiment of the presentinvention is similar to the second embodiment of the present invention,while the sensor is an audio sensor 52. As the same, the audio sensor 52can be installed in the ceiling, on the wall or any other place in aroom. The audio sensor 52 is able to collect audio signals and convertit into digital signals and transmit the digital signals to the controlunit 20. The control unit 20 will operate some specific electrothermalequipments based on the signals from the audio sensor 52, such as, thespecific electrothermal equipments will start to operate when the audiosensor 52 detects the user is applauding one time or stop the operationwhen the audio sensor 52 detects the user is applauding twice. The useralso can control the system with oral instructions, such as with thesound of [turn on] or [turn off] to operate electrothermal equipments10, or to operate electrothermal equipments 10 in some specifiedlocations or with specific numbers. Further more, the control unit 20can identify the user by the features of the user's voice, and with thepre-determined set up of the user, to adjust the corresponding operationof the electrothermal equipment 10, such as, when the currenttemperature is set up to 25° C. but the preference of the temperature ofuser A is 27° C., the control unit 20 will control the system to adjustthe temperature to 27° C. when the audio sensor 52 detects the user isuser A. With the present invention, the system adjusts the temperaturedepending on the voice or the oral instructions of the user, so the userdoes not need to operate the system with the user interface. Theelectrothermal system of the present invention is also able to adjustthe temperature based on the user's habits to satisfy the user'spersonal demand of the temperature so as to utilize energy moreefficiently and save the cost extremely.

The present invention has been described with some preferred embodimentsthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in thedescribed embodiments can be carried out without departing from thescope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limitedonly by the appended.

1. An electrothermal system, comprising at least one electrothermalequipment for emitting infrared radiation when being connectedelectrically; a control unit for controlling the operation of theelectrothermal equipments; wherein by using the control unit, somespecified electrothermal equipments can be enabled to heat up specifiedregions while the other electrothermal equipments will not operate, soas to reduce power consumption for only heating up demanded localregions and improving efficiency of electricity utilization.
 2. Theelectrothermal system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system furthercomprises a sensor for detecting a location of a user or receiving aoperating instruction from the user and transmitting a signal to thecontrol unit to heat up the specified regions.
 3. The electrothermalsystem as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sensor is using infraredradiation to detect the location of the user.
 4. The electrothermalsystem as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sensor is using image todetect the location, the body motion, or the gestures of the user. 5.The electrothermal system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the user canoperate the system with the motion of user's body or the user'sgestures.
 6. The electrothermal system as claimed in claim 4, whereinthe sensor can identify the user by features of the user's face, thepose of the user or the motion of user's body and optimize the operationof the system subject to user's habits.
 7. The electrothermal system asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the sensor can detect the user's voice,sound, or oral instructions.
 8. The electrothermal system as claimed inclaim 7, wherein the user can operate the system with his voice, sound,or oral instructions.
 9. The electrothermal system as claimed in claim7, wherein the sensor can identify the user by the user's voice, sound,or voiceprint and optimize the operation of the system subject to user'shabits.
 10. The electrothermal system as claimed in claim 1, the systemfurther comprises a thermometer for detecting the temperature of auser's body or the temperature of environment.
 11. The electrothermalsystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrothermal equipment isinstalled in a ceiling of a room.
 12. The electrothermal system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the electrothermal equipment is installed ona wall of a room.